Jennifer Garner has expressed deep sympathy for her friends impacted by the Palisades fire, including the tragic loss of a friend.
The wildfires in California have wreaked havoc across Los Angeles, resulting in significant damage to numerous structures and homes. This disaster has forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate, with at least 11 fatalities reported.
One of the deceased individuals was a friend of Jennifer Garner.
Garner, alongside World Central Kitchen’s Chef José Andrés, joined MSNBC reporter Katy Tur in the Palisades area, amidst the ruins of buildings and homes destroyed by the fire.
The 13 Going on 30 actress shared: “I’ve lived in and around the Palisades for 25 years so I think all of us, we want to get our hands into working somehow to be helpful. because of my work with save the children I have a relationship with Chef and I was able to just say, ‘Can I be with you for the day? What can I do to help? Put me to work’.”
Garner mentioned that her ‘best friend’s house’ once stood ‘down the street’ and had a distinctive gong in the front yard.
She reminisced: “There were so many kids that played in the street and they’d hit the gong at the end of the day and call them home just like neighborhoods across the country. It is not some far away place that you can’t reach. this is the street we run down on 5Ks, this is where the firetruck that – God bless our firefighters – goes on the 4th of July parade.
“This is a neighborhood.”
The actor then acknowledged that she had ‘lost a friend’ to the fires but mentioned that her friend’s passing is still a ‘really tender’ subject for the local church community, so she refrained from discussing it further. She did confirm: “I did lose a friend who did not get out in time.”
Holding back tears, she added: “My heart bleeds for my friends. I can think of 100 families and there are 5,000 homes lost. I could write out a list of 100 friends who lost their homes. I feel almost guilty walking through my house. What can I do, how can I help? What do I have to offer with these hands and these walls and the safety I have?”
Garner concluded: “It is an incredible thing to watch World Central Kitchen and Chef José just come in and – ‘We’ve got this handled. We’ve got you’.”
Chef José emphasized: “The most important thing here is once the cameras are gone, once everybody forgets what’s happening we’ve seen – like in Nashville and North Carolina – what we need to make sure […] is we cannot leave these communities forgotten.
“Everybody has to remember them […] so they can start reconstruction […] We need to make sure the people who lost their jobs, probably for weeks or months, they’re not going to have an income, that we take care of those people.”
To help those affected by the fires, donations can be made to the Red Cross online, by calling (800) 733-2767 or texting REDCROSS to 90999.
If you have experienced a loss and need support, contact GrieveWell at (734) 975-0238.